1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to videoimaging systems and, more specifically, to a portable pan-tilt camera and lighting unit for videoimaging, videoconferencing, production, lighting and recording. The portable camera and lighting unit can be used to provide a standalone video feed and/or lighting source, or can be used as a satellite camera and lighting unit for use in conjunction with station for surgical videoimaging (“VVPR”) such as shown and described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/922,597. The portable camera and lighting unit disclosed herein improves the resolution of video and lighting at any location including hospital operating room/procedure rooms, field locations, or other remote locations for purposes of sourcing audio, video and data communications there from for education, consulting, surgical assistance, diagnostics, demonstrations, and the like.
2. Description of the Background
There are many geographic areas where rural physicians and health practitioners need continuing education, and possibly real-time guidance from experts in carrying out various surgical procedures.
Situations calling for real-time video production capabilities are quite apparent, for example, some level of video production services are commonly required in medical settings, including academic surgical procedural programs to be used in teaching students, or surgical procedural/promotional programs for medical devices, instructional & assembly programs for mapping out the steps for assembling or using a complicated apparatus, seminar & workshop capture, patient education programs & documentary, sales force motivational programs, etc. Indeed, many surgeries are now broadcast by live event video production and internet broadcasting or satellite uplink. Both recorded program production as well as live event productions require extensive production overhead. Unfortunately, distance and limited resources make it increasingly complicated for providers to furnish these services.
While medical video production services are available, they are usually in the form of a conventional video crew. The crew (4-10 people) equip an operating room with video cameras, microphones, video mixers, audio mixers, monitors, hundreds of feet of cables, and tape or broadcast the surgery. The work product of the various cameras and crewmen may be broadcast and recorded in real time or turned over to an editor for mixing, editing, to generate a final edited master recorded on tape/digital tape/CD/DVD
There have been few attempts to consolidate the process in the surgical setting to make it less obtrusive, more flexible in serving all the foregoing needs, and more economical to health care providers. One effort is described in United States Patent Application No. 20030142204 by Rus, Steven H. filed Jul. 31, 2003. This application discloses a surgical lighting control and video system that gives a user access to multiple devices at one station and makes control of the system simpler and more intuitive. A graphical LCD display is used to control a plurality of devices, such as overhead lighting, ambient lighting, cameras, and other operating room accessories. A voice interface allows the surgeon to adjust lighting and other aspects by simply speaking. A foot pedal interface and an infra-red remote control interface grant the surgeon control of the cameras, enabling direct control of rotate and zoom functions of the camera.
Surgeons generally are not capable or willing to attend to all of their own video recording/teleconferencing/production needs themselves while indisposed with a patient. A better solution is a mobile videoimaging, videoconferencing and production station capable of being manned by a single trained person, such as shown and described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/922,597 filed Aug. 20, 2003 by the present inventors. The VVPR system described therein provide high-resolution interactive audio, video and data communications between hospital operating room/procedure room environments and other remote locations for education, consulting, remote surgical assistance, diagnostics, demonstrations, and the like.
It has since been found that tremendous enhancements can be attained by use of a portable camera and lighting unit having a remotely-controlled video camera and light source (particularly an adjustable high-intensity light source such as fiber optic or the like) sharing the same optical path, both mounted on an articulating boom for videoimaging, videoconferencing, production and recording. The present invention provides these capabilities in the form of portable camera and lighting unit combining a pan-tilt video camera with directional lighting source sharing the same optical path, the unit being capable of providing a standalone video feed, or being suited for use as a satellite unit for use in conjunction with a primary surgical videoimaging station (“VVPR”) such as shown and described in applicant's above-cited application. In both cases the present portable camera and lighting unit improves the flexibility, resolution and diverse camera angles and lighting to improve the interactive video and data production and communications capabilities between hospital operating room/procedure room environments and other remote locations for education, consulting, surgical assistance, diagnostics, demonstrations, and the like.